The event drew 162 attendees to Barcelona, with companies present from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom and from as far as South Africa and the United States.
Conference presenters and participants networked, shared best practices, successful case studies, and connected with what could soon be the largest MPS market in the world. HP, Ricoh, FMAudit and DocuAudit Europe were Platinum Sponsors of the conference.
According to Photizo, Europe’s MPS market is expected to grow from €7.6 billion in 2009 to €21.9 billion by 2014, passing the United States as the leading market.
The gathering MPS momentum in the European market appears driven by OEMs developing their top end programs with advanced Stage 3 offerings for enterprise-level clients, and also through channel programs for the small to mid-size business (SMB) sector.
In addition to traditional hardware resellers, other channel players in Europe are starting to make an impact with both OEM-led and independent MPS offerings, reports Photizo. Large organizations in the IT Distributor and Office Products sectors have the potential to provide an independent MPS offering on a pan-European basis.
Of the European countries, the UK and Netherlands are the most advanced and fastest growing MPS markets, followed by the Nordics, Germany and France. “Cultural resistance to outsourcing has hampered development of MPS in some countries, However, this attitude is being weakened by the economic crisis and the need to reduce costs,” noted Steven Swift, Senior Consultant with the Photizo Group office in Europe.
Reduced environmental impact is another dimension of MPS that resonates in Europe. Governments are also getting involved, with recent examples of directives for public sector organizations to move toward MPS for environmental as well as cost reasons.
“We keep hearing from our attendees that the MPS Conferences hosted by Photizo Group are becoming a watering hole for the industry–a true source of education and networking with peers and experts,” said Ed Crowley, CEO of Photizo.
Attendees felt that the conference was successful. “This conference was very beneficial,” said John Zahm, CEO of NRS Printing Solutions AG. “There were various ideas and a lot of light shed on the MPS movement.”
“It was interesting, stimulating and good to benchmark with competitors. A particular value was meeting with customers and the indirect channel in an effort to better understand them,” said Richard Caunt, Head of Managed Print Services for Xerox Europe.
Photizo has also announced it will host the Global MPS Conference in May 2011 in Orlando, Florida.